A/N: Here you go, two
chapters in one day! (No idea I had it in me ;p) Enjoy.

** * ** * ** * **

"Dare"

"Tony, I dare you…" Three
voices came. Abby was the quickest though.

"Tony, I dare you to wear your
sling for the rest of the night!"

Tony groaned, glaring at Gibbs who
leaned back in his chair and smirked.

"Abby, that isn't a real dare!",
he complained.

"Does that mean you will not do
it?" challenged Ziva.

Tony eyed his opponents. Gibbs
found this incredibly amusing, judging by his uncharacteristic
snigger. Ziva was openly mocking. Abby, well, Abby was looked
inordinately pleased with herself. Tony sighed, defeated. He
briefly considered if quitting now by refusing the dare was worth
facing Abby's wrath. He decided not.

"Alright, I left it in the car.
Lemme go get it." Before Tony could pull himself upright, Gibbs
stood and demanded Ziva give him her keys.

"I'll get the sling, DiNozzo. I
smell desert."

Tony grinned. Gibbs wasn't a big
fan of cake, but he knew Tony was. It was a nice gesture, and
DiNozzo sent him a grateful look.

Ten minutes later Tony was
re-settled in his sling and everyone had been served a slice of cake.

"My turn!", Abby shouted. She
paused, thinking. "Dare!"

"Abby-I-dare-you-to-poke-Ziva-with-your-fork-three-times"
Gushed Tony with his most immature smile.

Even Gibbs couldn't hold back an
entertained snort when Ziva glared at Abby, silently challenging her
to go through with it.

Slowly, Abby reached for her fork.
Poised to strike, she froze. Tony would have sworn he saw a light
bulb go off over her head.

Tony surveyed the other occupants of
Ziva's small kitchen table warily. He still wasn't ready to risk
truth.

"Dare" This time Ziva was
ready.

"Tony, I dare you to headslap
Gibbs." That got her some looks. Obviously, Ziva was trying to
get back at Tony for loosing Abby and the Desert Fork on her earlier.

All three reactions surprised her,
though. Ziva had expected a pale, trembling Tony, a fuming, growling
Gibbs, and a mortified, somewhat sympathetic Abby. To her great
astonishment, Tony merely shrugged, stood up, and walked around to
Gibbs. For his part, Gibbs wore an unreadable expression as he
tipped his head deferentially. Abby seemed bored.

Rather unceremoniously, Tony
delivered a loud smack and then calmly reseated himself.

The three shared a look. Or,
rather, Gibbs and Abby looked at Tony, who groaned and covered his
face with his free hand.

"Abs, your turn" Gibbs' barked
order startled both Americans.

"Um….right….Druth"

The strange word confused Ziva, but
the two men just rolled their eyes.

"Abs, I dare you to tell Ziva the
truth about why Tony came tonight."

Tony glared at his boss, mumbling
something vaguely unflattering under his breath.

"He was supposed to have
The Talk with you" she said cheerfully.

"'The Talk'?" Ziva rubbed
her temples. Things were getting strange again. She wondered if her
partner slipped an 'extra ingredient' into the cake.

"Gibbs" Tony growled.

"Dare."

"I dare you to have The
Talk with Ziva"

"Pass."

"Boss, Abby says you can't
pass."

"Forfeit"

"You can't do that either"

"Um, actually, Tony, yes he can."
Tony narrowed his eyes at Abby. She was…bubbly. Tony was not in
the mood for bubbly.

"Fine. He loses. Ziva."

"Truth" Gibbs was out of the
game, and Abby was making faces at Tony – trying, in her own way,
to 'hint' that he should do something. The 'faces' might
have meant something to Tony, but Ziva was once again lost. Yes,
Tony was making faces back. After witnessing their strange brand of
wordless communication all night, she could almost believe that they
really were family.

After all, Gibbs would not have said
it if it was not true, would he?

Thinking about it, Ziva realized
that Tony was not the only one that had been acting out of character
that evening. All three of them had been… free-er? Not 'out of
character' like something was wrong (except for maybe Tony) but
like they were with people they trusted implicitly. Like she had
thought earlier, Ziva only knew of three relationships that trusted
like that – long standing friendships, soul-matches (um, soul
mates), and siblings – family.

Ziva had never been that close to
her own family; she had been trained from a young age to be
suspicious of anyone and everyone. Her own father had taught her
that lesson personally more than once. She doubted that she could
ever trust him like her co-workers were trusting each other.

Tony's sigh interrupted her
thoughts.

"Ziva, why'd you ask Gibbs why
he hired me?"

Gibbs' face clouded. Ziva knew
that meant she needed to respond carefully. Honestly, she had only
asked because she was curious.

The ex-Mossad agent knew that Tony
was a very capable investigator, but she could not see Gibbs hiring
someone like Tony because he exhibited potential. There was more to
the story – maybe more to Tony – than she knew. Ziva did not
like that they were keeping this a secret.

"Because I know there is more that
you and Gibbs will not say." Well, that was close to the truth
anyway.

Gibbs snorted.

"Ziva, he was a homicide detective
with a record for insubordination. Joint case, NCIS lead. I told
him not to get shot." He glared at his Senior Field Agent who
smiled weakly.

"Tony doesn't really like being
told what to do" Abby chimed in "So of course he got shot."

"Hey! I didn't do it on
purpose! You make it sound like I got shot on purpose." Tony
protested, but was quickly shushed by Abby. Ziva waited for someone
to continue. This felt important somehow – even if she did not
understand why.

"Right, DiNozzo" Gibbs drawled.
"You got shot and I had to visit you in the hospital."

"Soon as the doctor told you I'd
live you started yelling, threatening to chain me to my desk for the
next month with cold cases. You were pissed."

"And, damn it, DiNozzo, you just
smiled and asked if that was a job offer, because your last boss just
fired your ass for getting shot – again." Gibbs was griping, but
his eyes were proud.

Ziva watched as Tony gave his boss a
single nod. They're communicating, she thought. She had
never noticed that before tonight, but she knew in her gut that she
had seen them to it before.

And that is when it hit her. They
were letting her see this. They were relaxed and enjoying
each others' company – and that included her, Ziva, ex-Mossad spy
and assassin. They were trusting her.

If they were family…

"Tony, it is your turn" Ziva
said. He smiled tiredly, stifling a yawn.

"Truth"

"You were supposed to tell me I am
family, yes?"

"Yeah, Ziva, you're family."

Abby clapped excitedly. Ziva would
swear she heard Gibbs heave a relieved sigh. And Tony – well, this
time he was unable to smother his yawn.

Ziva grinned and offered to let him
sleep on the couch – after all, that is what family is for, yes?

** * ** * ** * **

A/N: Alrighty – there you
go. It's finished HURRAY! (although I'm toying with adding a
TIVA alternate ending, but I'm not sure I want to start this ball
rolling again – maybe in a few weeks) Thanks for reading, and, as
always, please let me know what you thought!

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.